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Teaching with a Music Video

Students respond to meaningful texts. I have found this to be true with traditional texts, with poetry and prose and art. I have also found this to be true for media texts. I bring in media messages that cause me to pause and question and think and usually find the same pieces are compelling for my students. For example, last summer my brother introduced me to the Australian pop-star, Kimbra. He showed me the video for her song “Settle Down” on her 2011 Vows album, and I was captivated by the song, the lyrics and the decisions she (or the art directors) made in the creation of that media message.

As an English teacher, I have used music in the classroom in the past, both lyrics as poetry and vocals/instrumental as a lesson in tone, but this song presents the opportunity to move further than that. I start the class reading the lyrics as poetry in a traditional literary way. We read for imagery, allusions, rhyme, rhythm and many of the tools we encourage students to find and unpack when reading a poem. I ask students to write their personal interpretations of the song using concrete support from the text. At this point, the lesson looks a lot like a traditional poetry lesson. We identify the tools and techniques used to achieve an intended focus, and my students are able to draw on their experience with poetry to identify the use and outcome of using poetic tools.  But the music is much different than the lyrics, so we move on to the music. I play the audio of the song for the students and asked them to listen for the different instruments and to pay attention to the tone in her voice and her inflection as she sings various parts of the song. Students are interpreting a media message without words, and, maybe it’s because they listen to a lot of music on their own, but they are really good at recognizing the techniques that convey meaning in music. They revise their interpretations and support their ideas with concrete evaluations of the vocals or the bass or the quick pause in the song.

The next step adds the very complex visual image to the already seemingly conflicted message students received from the lyrics and the audio performance. The visual provides a strong narrative for the song and stark contrasts in costuming and imagery serve to further muddle the message sent in a song called “Settle Down” that is, at least on the surface, seeming to glorify a young woman’s desire to settle down with the man she adores. The visuals include very young women, (children, actually) who express the desire to settle down with their mannequin “man.” The use of pre-pubescent girls and shocking images of burning porcelain dolls send a very clear message that defies many of the students’ original interpretation about the meaning of the work. By this point, my students have demonstrated an ability to not only determine the author's purpose and intended effect on the audience, but they can point out how the author creates subtle irony through careful decisions in dress and and how a well-timed close-up shot can change the perception of that intended effect. The revisions of their original statements are astounding as each student begins to realize they ways in which the visual work to contrast and juxtapose the lyrics instead of support them, which is the paradigm for music videos that most students bring into the classroom.

The final step in analyzing this text added richness and depth as we watched the visual alone without the sound. The details in her eye rolls and dance moves take on new meaning for my students and our discussion of how a simple tool, like an eye roll, creates meaning inspired many students to turn a response paragraph into a full essay. They found more in the text than I thought they would. In fact, the content in Kimbra’s music video provided one of the richest text I’ve ever brought to the classroom. Using media texts in the classroom may be unconventional but the media text provides students the many of the same opportunities to develop traditional literacy skills as a traditional written text; the difference is that more students are engaged as they get a chance to respond thoughtfully and academically to a text that resembles the ones they encounter every day.

[medialiteracyteacher]

#MeToo: How can literature (and publishers) respond to the problems of gender and power?

It’s not just a question of whether we should engage with the writings of men who abuse power. A lot needs to be done to foster inclusivity in literature.

Since early October, when the volcano of #MeToo stories erupted over social and news media in India, what has emerged as a common theme is the overbearing entitlement of the men who have been accused and a historical lack of serious consequences. Still only over a month old, it remains to be seen if this wave of stories will shift the needle with gender politics in our deeply patriarchal culture. But the magnitude, complexity and insidiousness of the problem needs deep and considered engagement.

In India’s literary circles, from which some prominent writers have also been accused of sexual harassment, crucial questions are emerging. How should we view the literary works of these men? How can we improve gender parity in literature so that women writers have just as much intellectual and creative authority? How can we ensure inclusivity and intersectionality in our literature so that the complexities and ambiguities of gendered power are better portrayed and understood?

READ MORE

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The face of children’s literature is about to change Almost half of U.S. children have a minority background, but you rarely see them in books. One group wants to change that, and research shows more diverse books could lead to a more tolerant generation.

[medialiteracyteacher]

These people are, in fact, actually evil and completely lacking in any sort of empathy for their fellow humans.

This is not an exaggeration. 

Literally laughing at young children. Being tear-gassed.

There are Disney cartoon villains who wouldn’t even do that.  

[medialiteracyteacher]

Today is #GivingTuesday

This is a chance for our community to come together and make a huge collective impact, spreading the word far and wide about the importance of intersectional feminist publishing and raising crucial funds to support our mission. Please support your favorite nonprofit!

THANK YOU!

[medialiteracyteacher]

A Media Matters study of Facebook and YouTube between October 13 and November 19 found that a majority of the caravan content with the most interactions came from right-leaning sources.

Fox News had the most top-engaged Facebook links and page posts as well as the most caravan-related YouTube videos with over 100,000 views. 

This is how anti-immigrant disinformation and conspiracy theories spread. 

[medialiteracyteacher]

‘Many of the books that did feature Asian children were centered around cultural themes like Chinatown, Chinese New Year, or Chinese characters—which was great, but I was really looking for books that followed just the story about a really cool and awesome child that just happened to be Asian,’ Zhang explained in a video about his project.

A Dad Couldn’t Find Any Great Books About Asian Kids For His Girls, So He Wrote One Himself

You’re awesome Jerry!

(via markruffalo)

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Existential Comics - Mad Marx: The Class Warrior

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An international incident with the British? This is what happens when the White House treats Fox News as a U.S. intelligence agency.

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"This is the start of a three-year effort to decolonize the curriculum in our public schools," said Colin Rose, assistant superintendent of opportunity and achievement gaps for Boston Public Schools,

[medialiteracyteacher]

Effective Student-Led Parent Conferences

Effective Student-Led Parent Conferences

Help students share their work. Give them a voice. Students can lead parent conferences. They can share a year-long portfolio of work. Here’s how.

Today Laura Penrod Stock @tweetmeegocoaches students to create powerful student-led conferences with their parents. By creating unique year-long portfolios, Laura believes students connect with their parents to help plan their future work and share…

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Find more of POLITICO’s fact check on President Trump’s address to Congress here

[medialiteracyteacher]

Maybe I studied literature too much as a girl.

But, um, talk about symbolism. 

[medialiteracyteacher]

WATCH: Chimamanda Adichie on what Americans get wrong about Africa.

(Animation credit: Jackie Lay)

[medialiteracyteacher]

If you are in the Baltimore area you should check this out. Great for educators and librarians plus if you haven’t been The Walters is a great museum.